


falling into the fandom pit

by cubedcoffeecake



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Tattoos, Alternate Universe - Tumblr, Anxiety Attacks, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cubedcoffeecake/pseuds/cubedcoffeecake
Summary: Okay, so he was probably in the same tattoo parlor as his internet friend.





	falling into the fandom pit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [solohux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solohux/gifts).



> Warning: anxiety isn't the focus of this, but there's a bit of sensory overload that triggers an anxiety attack at the end. based on my personal experience.
> 
> Today is @solohux's birthday!! I can't really claim to know Lottie, and we've never strictly spoken either, but it's stumbling upon her stories that dragged me into this pairing, so I wanted to dedicate this to her. Thank you for all your lovely works!!
> 
> All the thanks to @keyflight790 for the wonderful beta and help w the title!!!!
> 
> This was inspired by a dream I had. "Inspired" meaning I literally had a dream where _exactly this_ happened. Bc of that and the fact I've never written for this pairing before, this might be a bit out there, but I hope y'all enjoy!!

He’d fallen into a fandom pit again.

One click on a fic with an interesting description and he was sucked in up to his ears. That was okay, though. Hux had just wrapped up an enormous, massively successful project that put his name on the map far beyond the modest firm he was with presently, and he deserved an indulgence. Pity that turned out to be Star Wars fanfiction and not a vacation to Florida, but it was what it was.

Finishing up an endearingly horrifying Palpatin drabble, Hux clicked the link in the end notes to see some art the fic was inspired by. It turned out to only be of Palpatine, but it was pretty cool. He scrolled through the Tumblr blog it was linked from for a few moments before hitting follow. They reblogged a lot of good art; maybe it would help his feed catch up with his new obsession.

He clicked back to Ao3 and returned to the search page he was eating through, intent to read as much as he could before his stomach complained enough to make him get up and eat. Before he could open another fic, though, a banner popped up from Tumblr. Kyl0-R3N was now following him—the blog he’d just followed himself.

Hux swept up to clear it, but the moment he did a new banner popped up with a private message. From Kyl0-R3N. With an understandable bit of trepidation he clicked on it, unsure of what they could possibly want.

_ Kyl0-R3N: hey _

That was… normal?

_ General-Hux: Hello _

Speech bubbles popped up right away, but as the seconds dragged on without a response coming through, Hux’s attention strayed to judging this person’s url. Numbers? Really? Was Kylo-Ren genuinely taken, or was he purposely trying to come across as thirteen?

_ Kyl0-R3N: i saw ur pics of ur cat. she’s really cute _

That took a full minute to type?

_ General-Hux: Thank you. _

_ Kyl0-R3N: what’s ur name? _

_ General-Hux: I’m not in the habit of sharing personal information online. _

Not quite true, Hux thought flippantly, considering that his name was literally in his url. Something about the other’s manner offended him, though.

_ Kyl0-R3N: cool cool _

_ Kyl0-R3N: nice to meet you, general _

Hux sighed.

* * *

It spoke to the barrenness of his social life that Hux continue to converse with the man. His pronouns were about all Hux knew about Ren, but that shouldn’t bother him, so he didn’t let it. The other knew far, far too much about Star Wars—but feeling ignorant after their conversations helped him justify his obsession. He wasn’t  _ that  _ obsessed. Look at Ren! He could tell you the entire history of the Hutt Empire. In reverse chronological order. While half-asleep.

A month in, their conversations turned from casual hellos and trivia exchanges into needling and debating. Until that point Ren had initiated all of their interactions, Hux being so apathetic about the situation he couldn’t be bothered to put a stop to it. Now, though, he reluctantly admitted to himself that he enjoyed their talking.

Ren’s family was just as bad as Hux’s, but in very different ways. Hux’s father couldn’t care less if he fell off a cliff; Ren’s followed him like dogs, constantly criticizing his choices in everything and claiming to love him and only mean the best… etc. etc. Hux listened to Ren’s frequent vitriol about his interactions with them, and in return Ren put up with Hux bemoaning his coworkers.

Phasma insisted that what they had was what normal people would consider friendship, for all that Hux rationalized their every interaction as a push and pull system of mutual exchanges. He still stubbornly refused to even think of it as such, but he had grown admittedly fond of Ren. Not that he’d ever tell him that to his face.

* * *

Hux had just closed his first project since beginning correspondence with Ren. Rather than leaping into a new fandom, Hux decided to go get the tattoos he’d been considering for years.

Sitting in the lobby of the parlor, he was remembering why he’d never gone through with this. He didn’t like needles, he didn’t like loud music, and he couldn’t help but be nervous every time he was about to make a permanent decision. He  _ knew _ that about himself. Why hadn’t he thought to ask Phasma to come with him?

As his hands began to shake, Hux pulled out his phone and resolutely ignored the tremors. Ren had messaged him his daily “hey.”

_ General-Hux: Do you have any tattoos? _

_ Kyl0-R3N: odd q. y, i have a couple small ones. actually gonna be getting a big one soon _

_ General-Hux: Do they hurt? _

He mentally backtracked, and typed as quickly as his fingers would grant him in order to clarify before Ren finished typing his own message.

_ General-Hux: I mean, I know the pain zones chart and all. Getting stabbed with needles is more it. How bad is that sensation? _

_ Kyl0-R3N: it feels weird, but i wouldn’t say it’s horrible _

_ Kyl0-R3N: easier to deal w if ur distracted _

_ Kyl0-R3N: the longer it goes on the less it bothers you _

_ Kyl0-R3N: in my experience _

_ General-Hux: All right. Thanks for humoring me. _

_ Kyl0-R3N: np!!! u thinking of getting one? _

_ General-Hux: Waiting in the lobby. _

Someone’s phone chimed, perfectly timed as if to demonstrate Hux’s discomfort. Couldn’t people just silence them before going into public? He slumped down further into his seat, half hoping to fall through and disappear.

_ Kyl0-R3N: nice!! _

_ Kyl0-R3N: wat design?? _

_ General-Hux: Flowers _

The phone chimed again, and Hux ground his teeth together.

_ Kyl0-R3N: a flower? bouquet? gimme details man _

_ General-Hux: I think just a bunch of flowers? Not really in a field or bouquet or anything _

_ General-Hux: Red, a really bright red. Could only find one artist around whose colored lining I really liked, though _

_ General-Hux: A full arm sleeve of them, on my left _

The idiot’s phone chimed three times in quick succession, and Hux paused. That was... unusually coincidental.

_ Kyl0-R3N: that sounds dope!! _

Hux smiled faintly. That was high praise, coming from Ren and directed at him. They tended to poke fun at everything the other did; for Ren to agree with him on something was new. A nice new.

_ General-Hux: I’ll send you a pic when it’s finished. _

The moment after Hux sent it, the phone chimed again. There was  _ no way _ …

_ General-Hux: You said you were getting a new one soon? How soon? _

Another chime.

_ Kyl0-R3N: i’m actually at the parlor now lol _

_ Kyl0-R3N: bitch of a wait, i’ve been sitting here for more than three hours _

_ Kyl0-R3N: gonna try to call ahead in the future _

Glancing around at the insanely busy parlor around him, Hux tried to convince his heart to slow down a bit. Okay, so he was probably in the same tattoo parlor as his internet friend. He took a deep breath and decided to make a move.

_ General-Hux: A big one? Lots of people waiting ahead of you? _

This time he was on alert and looking around. When the phone chimed he realised it was coming from just around a half wall from him.

_ Kyl0-R3N: yep _

He stood up and started walking toward the wall, heart in his throat. There was no reason for him to be so nervous of this, so he told himself not to be and continued on.

There was only one person sitting in the chair there, so Hux knew it had to be Ren. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined Ren would be so attractive, though. Goddamn.

Just then someone from the desk called “Ben, we’re ready for Ben,” and the man clicked off his phone and stood up. He walked around Hux and over to the door to the back room, not seeming to notice the way Hux stood frozen and helplessly watched him leave. The muscles of his arms strained against his t-shirt as he moved, stretching the fabric tightly enough for Hux to see every shift. He yanked his gaze away when Hux realized his eyes had dropped to Ren’s ass, just to be distracted by the braids in his hair.

Fucked. He was absolutely fucked.

Resignedly, Hux dropped down into the chair Ren had abandoned and pulled his phone back out. He put in a token effort of trying to go through his emails before abandoning work to read through the backlog of his and Ren’s conversations.

* * *

Six damn hours later, he finally heard his name called. He stretched for a minute before walking over to the door Ren had disappeared through hours earlier.

He was asked to wait another moment while the artist wiped down her equipment, but he didn’t mind much. At least he was in the room now.

Glancing around as she cleaned the table he’d lay on, Hux realised that Ren was sitting down just a few feet from him. He froze, mouth falling open a bit. His glasses started to slip down his nose and he broke from his near-trance to shove them back up so he could keep staring at the fucking glorious design stretching across Ren’s neck and down his back.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a message was waiting for him from Ren. He glanced back up to see Ren had looked over at him, able to hear the vibration. He slowly, purposefully unlocked his phone and looked at the message. A picture of the tattoo, likely taken by the artist. If Hux had had any doubt left about Ren being this sex dream in front of him…

He kept eye contact with Ren as he typed back a simple “Nice.” He hit send with an obvious tap, and the next second Ren’s phone chimed. He glanced down at his phone, and then back up at Hux, and then down at it again. His eyes widened comically.

Ren grinned so broadly that Hux couldn’t help but blink, and Hux’s phone buzzed.

_ Kyl0-R3N: hey stranger _

He felt something uncomfortably like fondness—affection, hope, desire—well up in his chest. Just when it was about to burst, the artist came over.

“All right, all ready! Come on in here and lay down. We’ll….”

Hux found himself being drawn to the table, away from Ren. He glanced over to see Ren smiling ridiculously in his direction. He gestured to Hux to pay attention to the artist and sat back down, his back to Hux. All through the artist’s instructions, he couldn’t make himself tear his eyes from the tattoo and Ren’s gorgeous shirtless back.

* * *

By the time his tattoo was finished, Hux had been in that tattoo parlor for far too long. He was so tired and sore he wasn’t sure how he’d survive the bus drive back to his apartment. Dinner, too; he needed dinner.

The sitting area of the parlor was nearly empty. Hux walked over to the desk and signed all the papers he needed to sign, settled on the tip, and paid. As soon as he turned around, it felt like a weight fell on him. He sagged, and the distance between him and the exit seemed to lengthen as he looked at it.

He was pulled from his impending anxiety attack by his phone vibrating in his pocket. Without thinking, he opened it with numb fingers.

_ Kyl0-R3N: r u okay? _

Hux stared at it uncomprehendingly for a moment as his breaths became shallower.

_ Kyl0-R3N: unless u have plans, i wanna get u dinner _

Oh. Yes, that sounded nice. Hux’s legs threatened to give out, knees wobbling dangerously.

_ General-Hux: I think I need to sit down _

Ren appeared at his side a moment later. He must have been sitting right by him, and Hux didn’t even notice.

With a gentleness that Hux distantly registered as surprising, Ren placed his hand on his lower back and guided him over to a seat. Hux half fell onto the couch and released a quick breath.

Sitting next to him, Ren pulled out his phone again. He picked up Hux’s as well, and held it out where Hux could see it without having to hold it.

_ Kyl0-R3N: can i hug u _

_ Kyl0-R3N: i don’t wanna make u uncomfortable _

_ Kyl0-R3N: and lemme know if u want me to leave _

_ Kyl0-R3N: u look like shit rn _

Hux smiled, too tired to will away the impulse. Ren was slightly adorable when he worried.

_ General-Hux: A hug sounds nice. _

Ren reached an arm around Hux’s waist and pulled him into his side. Hux sighed gently and began to count his breathing. Ren was built like a rock and was wonderfully grounding. It felt a bit like he was holding Hux to the earth so that he couldn’t float away.

A few minutes passed and so did the worst of the attack. Hux didn’t have to force air into his lungs, and he felt more present. Ren’s presence was still a balm, though; the strength in his arm, so carefully around Hux, made him giddy.

He always had liked a man who could pick him up.

_ General-Hux: Would you still like to buy me dinner? _

He glanced up at Ren through his eyelashes and watched with a growing sense of anticipation as Ren’s eyes darkened with hunger.

_ Kyl0-R3N: lead the way _

Hux grinned and stood up, pocketing his phone. Ren joined him and together they walked, shoulder to shoulder, out of the parlor.


End file.
